


Blood Red Deck, Deep Blue Sea

by BillieBunnie



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Attempted Seduction, Blood, Deep Sea, Different types of sirens, Drowning, Fear the ocean, Gen, Hinted Tom/Tord, Kraken Siren Edd, Lure Siren Matt, M/M, Major Character Injury, Pirate Captain Tord, Song Siren Tom, There is a reason people feared these creatures, as in Tom is literally trying to eat him, don't get attached to any pirates, kissing but only as means to steal breath, siren au, this is kind of sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 04:59:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13540182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BillieBunnie/pseuds/BillieBunnie
Summary: Red Deck is a feared pirate ship, ruled by an infamous captain who will let nothing best his crew or his pride. No navy or other vessel of the sea has ever frightened him. Not even the creatures of lore, the ones that all feared. And he makes the mistake to prove it by hunting down a rumored Siren up North.





	Blood Red Deck, Deep Blue Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Here there be death. 
> 
> Pau and Patty instead of Pau/l and Pat/ryck for obvious reasons.
> 
> alsO- whyareyoureyesblack drew them?? I cried? I'm so flipping honored???
> 
> http://whyareyoureyesblack.tumblr.com/post/169560011279/k-but-aubergine-jeans-has-a-p-amazing-siren-story
> 
> http://whyareyoureyesblack.tumblr.com/post/169603061729/can-you-draw-more-siren-au-sorry-to-bother-you

Above all else, the captain knows of his awesome skill, and he has an arrogance that all hate but cannot deny. He gets whatever he wants, and holds the greatest of knowledge, wealth, and reputation. No one dares challenge them. Save for the captain himself.

The captain is rumored to take on impossible challenge after challenge, always wanting more, always getting more. Whatever he is not meant to have, he takes with a wide grin and a bloodied blade. Even the things that no man is meant to have.

He has taken people meant to be untouchable; princes, generals, and has turned them into his loyal crew. He has obtained treasure thought to be lost, and has sailed the most dangerous seas simply to prove that he could.

Nothing ever scared him from a challenge. Not great defenses, new found technology, rumored assassins, and, most certainly, especially not superstitions.

Most would think a man of the sea would learn to respect the fears of lore, but the Captain of Red Deck never wavered. It wasn't that he didn't believe them. Quite the opposite, actually. He had grown up with nothing but nymphs and fey on his porch, and many even speculated (with the way he spoke of his mother) that his father was the devil himself and his mother had been a witch. Still, he didn't see these things as something to respect or fear.

All he saw them as was yet another challenge. A challenge that most, if not all, would never dare to tread close to if they believed it even for a second. The perfect challenge.

All he needed was an audience and a stage where he could openly declare himself the most feared being in all realms. He never shied from announcing this to people who stumbled across him and his crew during their sparse trips on land. He claimed he would kill any mythical beast and paint his boat in their blood, if only someone would tell him exactly where to look without imagining him a fool.

But there lies an issue; he could kill them, he was sure of it, but he needed to find them first. He had claimed to kill nymphs and hags and sulkies in the past, but he had killed them all, and their remains failed to show much, aside from a rotten stump and a pelt that everyone swore had to be from a seal or a dolphin. Often, he bragged about wanting to hunt down the Kraken, but even his crew got unsettled at the idea and always insisted that they should hunt for something that the boat could actually carry back. 

Which he agreed to. Not because he was scared, but instead because he himself knew he wasn't prepared to take the Kraken down. No one was.

Still, Tord craved to prove himself unstoppable, so, when he heard rumor of a siren drowning several ships in the Northern waters just slightly further than his usual path, he decided that he'd not only catch this siren, but he'd also bring it back alive and kill it in front of an entire town. Just to prove that he could. A few of his crew hesitated, but Tord was prepared and convinced them easily even as the town and harbor and any who caught wind of his plan called them insane and told them to pray before leaving.

For several days, they saw nothing, and heard nothing. Tord adjusted their coarse and patrolled the ship proudly. None of the crew questioned him.

When they ran across hunks of debris, flotsam and chunks of broken ships drifting by their path, Tord smirked and announced that they were getting closer. Some of the crew reached down with long sticks or hung off the hull with ropes and shoved sea bloated corpses out of the way along with the larger pieces of wreck.

One day, while Tord was patrolling the ship and scanning the endless washing sea, the ship suddenly altered coarse, sending the boat and most of the crew reeling. Tord started to yell, asking what happened, but a noise caught his attention. 

Something deep and rolling, like the waves, but richer. Booming. Singing.

He whirled, and had to catch himself on the railing yet again. Many of his fellow crew members were muttering, looking around in a daze. A few others, the sane ones, were complaining and shouting and racing for the captains wheel, trying to stop whoever was yanking the boat around. Tord ignored this, knowing that he wouldn't be much help if the song continued much longer, so he looked for the actual solution.

He scanned the horizon, searching for any pillars of rocks or anything odd on the horizon. Nothing stood out, but that didn't mean that the deep was going to be forgiving. Perhaps a reef? Or maybe the damned thing was just going to capsize them?

When the ship wavered again, Tord became aware that it was turning, or trying to at least.

Capsize them it was then.

Tord scanned the ocean, looking for a person, a face, or even just a tail. Anything that would show the beast. At first the waves made it difficult, and the yanking ship and unwavering singing was making it impossible.

"Steady this blasted thing already, you stupid louts! I need to find this stupid whore before we all end up in the sea!" Tord barked, voice trying to breach over the song. It did barely any sort of effect, seeing as how Tord was thrown nearly to the ground at another harsh yank of the rudder.

"Yes, Captain!" A few voices started, but they were as drowned out as his own command.

"Captain, there!"

This voice was harsh and sharp, from his first mate. When Tord looked up, Pau was halfway across the boat, collapsed against the railing with something clenched in his hands. He pointed out to a part of the sea with a surprisingly steady finger. Tord followed the gesture and noticed it. Not even a yard away, a flash of human skin against the ocean blues and blacks.

The ship whipped again, but Tord had already shoved himself up. He bolted across the edge of the ship, his foot snatching on the railing, and he launched himself from the ship and into the ocean in a neat dive.

Icy water weighed him down, but the moments under the thick water were enough to ease the dizziness. When he surfaced, his senses regained in a harsh shock, he gasped once and then cut through the water with harsh drags of his arms. The song persisted, though ebbed and rolled with each wave that splashed his ears.

His hand smacked hard into a plate of flotsam, just a board really, and, just as he was about to push it out of his way, hands fell on top of his. Stilling him.

He jerked up, suddenly becoming aware of the song echoing in his ears, and his eyes met pitch black.

The face is passive and hauntingly dull, with critical sharp lines that make an angled jaw and almost pretty features. It's appearance is male, Tord is aware, especially as it leans close to him. Where eyes should be are hooded, deep black voids that scan him like a lover would. Long dark brown hair that is slick with ocean water, smoothed back and down to his shoulders. His lips are edged in blue and parted in wordless song that rolls out of his chest in a crash similar to the strength of the waves around them. 

Tord could see the tips of sharp teeth, but he becomes confused as to why such a beautiful creature would have teeth like a shark.

"Are you the one that aims to drown us all?" Tord asked, breathless and tired.

The edges of the singing mouth quirked, a smile. The hands on Tord's smoothed circles along his knuckles, sharp tips of nails catching on his rings.

Tord felt the notes of the song tickling his ears, thrumming in his veins.

Still, he tightens his hold on the board, feeling himself sink but knowing not to let go. The fingers along his try to slip under his hands, but he grabs tighter until his knuckles turn white.

"I... know what you are... You bastard of the sea... Release my crew, whore," Tord forces himself to say, but his tone is soft and he bobs more in the water.

The face of the siren shifts, a tilt of the head, a glimmer of amusement or curiosity touching the lines along where the eyes should be.

Surprisingly, the song hums off and the man's lips fall closed. The song still infects the air, tainting waves and the crew and Tord's thoughts.

The hands of the siren slipped from Tord's, up to his face, smoothing along his jaw and cheeks. Tord could feel a sharpness to the skin that nicks his stubble, but it didn't register as much as the face before him.

"A captain, I presume," The siren's voice is drawling, almost mocking, almost human sounding if not for an undertone that almost made Tord want to cry, "You are brave, I'll give you that. But it's such a shame that a face like this, is what you humans find so intimidating. Honestly, I'd say that you're far too cute to be a pirate captain... You're practically a doll."

The siren purred these words, teasing, leaning closer and closer and Tord couldn't help but be enraptured. He had killed people for calling him less, but the insults didn't connect when breathed against his mouth.

A wave rose up and knocked into Tord's face, catching his eyes and his mouth. He weakly sputtered, confused and dazed. The hands on his cheeks kept him from backing away.

"'ve killed men twice your size..." Tord mumbled, unsure why he was even still speaking. The siren let out a soft chuckle, the smile condescending, like he was speaking to a child.

"Adorable captain, braving my waters..."

Tord blinked, a scowl edging along with a clearness in his eyes, but then the siren hummed. A deep, washing noise, deep in his chest, as smooth as the water that rolled down Tord's face. Tord's mind blanked, and he sagged forward in the siren's hold, and he felt lips brush his.

"You're tryin' to kill me." Despite the words he uttered, Tord felt himself smiling. 

The siren smirked against his lips, humming again, "I am~ But, trust me, this is better than what I'm going to do to your crew... You don't even care that you're about to die, do you, pathetic captain? When they die, they'll care alright~"

Tord blinked, hand slipping from the board to catch the siren's wrist. He thought of trying to pull the hands off his face, but the command didn't reach his brain. His body was betraying him.

"I'll kill you if you touch my crew-"

"I'm killing you first, idiot," Interrupted the siren, voice pitching warmly, and his mouth sealed over Tord's.

Tord's other hand flew off the board at the sudden move, probably reaching to push the siren off at first, but the siren moved much faster. One arm curled along Tord's waist, and he was suddenly being yanked closer. The board was knocked out of the way, and dully Tord noticed that he was now clinging to the siren instead. He couldn't think to pull away, not with the cold lips kissing him over and over. Before he could comprehend, he was kissing back, his arms weakly grabbing for the siren's shoulders. He could feel scales under his fingers.

The arm on his waist curled tighter, the hand on his head pushing him closer, and the siren pulled him under the next wave. The kissing left him numb, but not numb enough not to notice the iciness of the sea drenching and dragging him down. However, it was only when he felt a tongue against his, forcing his lips apart and letting salty water fill his mouth, that he snapped out of the last of the spell.

He struggled, digging his nails into the sirens skin and thrashing out his legs. Underwater, his motions were sluggish and slow, and the sirens arms around him were as strong as metal. He tried to spit out the water, but more filled his mouth and the siren kept cutting off his attempts with more kisses.

Seconds felt like years, and Tord tried to reach for his knife. When he felt the hilt, he pulled it out as fast as he could, and managed to nick the sirens side. He could tell it was an actual hit because the siren grabbed him tighter and a harsh, almost ear splitting shriek breached his deafened ears. The siren jerked back, yanking him further down. The kiss against his lips became a bite, and he felt those sharp teeth pierce his skin.

Just as black started to flutter in his mind and his lungs started to burn, he was suddenly being jerked up. More arms around his waist, hands snatching at the arms around him. The siren was the one thrashing now. The cold hands of the siren were gone.

They breached the surface, Tord's ears and lungs burning, and air, glorious air, reached his mouth.

He gasped, more awake and aware than ever. The arms on his waist singled out to one, a warm strong arm that was holding him up. When he looked, he saw Pau gripping him and clutched onto the ships side, full arm wrapped in the ships rope ladder as he struggled to keep their captain from falling back into the sea.

"I got you, captain!"

Tord tried to respond, but instead hunched over and heaved water out of his stomach. His wet coats were weighing him down, but Pau held him up without complaining. After a moment of retching sea water back into the ocean, Tord became aware of more voices and more movement just in front of him.

One more of his crew had hold of the siren, who was throwing himself back and forth and letting out noises that were somewhat like growls, yells, and broken clicks of song. The other crew member had the siren's hair in his fist, holding the beast out of the water with just that painful hand while the other was wrapped tightly in rope to prevent him from being dragged under.

The siren yowled and hissed, sharp clawed hands raking at the side of the ship and the crew member. He was mostly pulled out of the water, and Tord could now see the siren's lower half. Toned stomach touched with tints of blue scales, leading down to angled hips, and that's where it stopped being human. 

A large dark blue scaled fish tail, thick and heavy and strong, whipping back and forth like an angry snake.

Tord, ignoring the fact that he was still being held by his first mate, whirled up the knife he had used before, and angled it so that it rested long the line of his hand and the line of the siren's throat.

"Be still, damned thing, or I'll slit your throat and leave you for the sharks!" Though his voice came out hoarse, edged with a cough, the messaged seemed to get through to the siren, because he stilled, and looked up. The expression on his face was enraged.

The siren then opened his mouth, and a song sprung into life, so loud and high pitched that it caused both Tord and his crew to flinch. Before the singing could get take actual effect, Tord drew back his hand and snapped his knuckles against the siren's jaw. The song cut off with the painful noise of bone against flesh, and the siren's body went surprisingly limp. Instantly, the other pirate holding the siren let out a grunt as he struggled to hang onto the dead weight.

"Oi! More of you get off your asses and help Patty haul up this stupid fish! Don't make me kick you off the ship myself!" Tord shouted up, and was instantly responded with calls of 'yes, sir' and 'yes, captain'. If the lot of them sounded relieved or happy, Tord made no comment.

A crew member or two jumped off the side, and into the water to help boost the siren out of the water.

Pau angled himself more, so that Tord could grab hold of the ropes himself. Instead of letting go, as most would for their terrifying captain, Pau kept his arm around Tord for a moment more. He leaned close, so that he could speak low and still be heard.

"You going to make it yourself, Captain?"

Tord huffed for a moment, tempted to say no, but then remembered his pride and shot his first mate a cocky look.

"Don't insult me, Pau."

Tord then made his way up. It took him longer than it usually did, and Pau kept hovering between being right behind him and right beside him. Despite slipping once, Pau didn't call Tord on his bluff, and they made it to the top just moments before the crew could bring up the siren.

Tord was greeted by his crew with cheers and wide grins. Tord only rolled his eyes, and shoved away his blade before turning to offer Pau a hand up. Though Pau didn't need it, he accepted it. Water soaked, with swollen and bloodied lips, the Captain still managed to look pretty damn proud of himself.

"I can't believe you jumped off the ship!" One of the crew members burst out, and Tord wiped blood from his stinging mouth.

"You were almost killed, captain!" Another called.

"It nearly seduced you to death, captain!"

"You saved us all! Once again!"

"Only our captain would resort to a bout of fisticuffs when faced with a siren!"

"Eh, shut up, you lot!" Pau interrupted further cries, but Tord wasn't paying much attention.

By the time the other crew members managed to bring the siren to the deck, the siren was writhing yet again. The top mate, Patty, yanked the creature over the rails with one hand full of dark locks and one arm locked about the siren's shoulder. The following ones shoved the rest of the siren up the side and carelessly dropped the heavy draping tail onto the deck with a loud thump.

The tail thrashed wildly, making the crew aboard gasp and back up in attempts to avoid getting hit, but Patty, Pau, and Tord stayed where they were. Patty had obviously dealt with stronger people fighting in his arms.

"Struggle all you want, but, if you try any of that enchantment crap, I'll cut out your tongue." Tord greeted, not bothering to even smirk. The siren looked up, and, several of the crew flinched when they saw that he had no eyes, a snarl baring sharp shark like teeth.

"You mean the tongue that was in your mouth?" The creature spat, then stuck out his tongue in question which was flat and tinted gray. A few of the crew glanced at their captain, but Tord didn't look an ounce ashamed.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've done something similar," Tord answered bluntly, flicking blood off his chin with his thumb.

The siren sneered, "And you called me the whore."

"Silence, bastard! You think being snarky is going to save you? You're only making matters worse for yourself," Pau snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. The siren narrowed those pitch eyes.

"Oh, I'm terrified." He drawled sarcastically.

Patty tightened his hold on the siren's hair and twisted, making the creature let out a high pitched trill.

"What did I say about enchantment?" Tord threatened, reaching for the knife at his waist in a warning. 

The siren's tail flicked.

"That wasn't a song, you moron! I'm in pain. If you don't want me to make noise, then tell this one to stop yanking on me!"

Tord glanced from the siren to Patty, who only quirked his brows, asking for instruction. After a second, Tord waved his hand dismissively.

"Drop him, Pat. There's no harm he can physically do since he's out of the water," Tord ordered calmly, "If he starts singing, feel free to knock him in the teeth."

Patty didn't even blink before he released his hold on the siren, dropping him heavily to the ground. A few of the crew mumbled uncertainly, uncomfortable, but didn't openly complain.

The siren landed hard on his side and forearms, hissing in pain and discomfort. His tail twitched, and curled inward a bit, trying to protect the long thin fins at the end. His hair hung in thin spikes in his face, thrown from the nice style from before by Patty's rough pulling. When he looked up, he looked murderous.

"Want us to bound and gag 'em?" Pau offered idly. Tord nodded.

"Right away, then we'll drag him to the brig and lock him in there."

The siren inclined his head to his shoulder, looking like he could barely keep himself upright. When he interrupted, his voice was casual if not entirely uncaring, "If you plan on keeping me alive, there better be water where you put me. I'll die without salt water."

Pau and Patty glanced at Tord for conformation. After a moment of purposely looking thoughtful, Tord quirked a brow.

"Put a barrel in the brig then. Chain it up to a wall so it doesn't go rolling all over hell and back," Tord omitted, and Pau and Patty nodded, then rushed off to do as they were told. Once they raced off, Tord looked at the rest of his crew, "Go on and fix up this ship! Make sure nothing went overboard when you lads lost your minds!"

"Aye, Captain!"

Most of the crew went off to do as they were told, while a few lingered nearby, probably making sure the siren didn't suddenly pull any tricks on their captain. Tord ignored them, watching the siren.

"I'm asking you a few questions before we shove you into a jar, and you're going to answer me honestly," Tord informed calmly, setting about slipping his drenched coat off his shoulders. The siren stared at him all the while, looking unimpressed and very angry.

"If you're going to sleep with me, I'd much rather be dead first." The siren announced with a very flat tone, and the captain scoffed. He flicked out his coat once, before throwing it over the siren. The heavy wet fabric hit the siren's skin with a slap, and the siren flinched.

"Don't flatter yourself, fish! I'm only giving you my coat because you said you'd die without salt water. My coat, thanks to you, should have plenty to keep you alive until the barrel is full. Not comfortable, but alive. Which is exactly how this entire trip is going to be for you, in case you didn't understand that already."

"I don't dry out that fast, human."

Despite his words, the siren made no attempt to push the wet coat off him. It draped from one of his shoulders, down his side.

"While you're on my ship, it's Captain. Remember that, and we will have one less thing to bicker over. Now, you are going to tell me what you were doing when you were singing to my crew."

The siren looked at him blankly.

"I was trying to drown you all? I thought that was obvious?"

"Do not act stupid. How were you trying to drown us? I saw no rocks, or reefs, and none of the water is that choppy, meaning there is nothing you were trying to run us into."

The siren stayed very still for a moment, stare entirely dull. "Why does that matter?"

"I'm curious. Answer my question."

"... I was trying to overturn your ship. Do you not know how that works?"

Tord said nothing for a moment, just staring at him, before finally glancing up and scanning the horizon. The siren was obviously confused, or threatened, or both, but he seemed cautious of drawing extra attention. 

Just then Pau returned from his job, rope in hand. Tord only nodded for Pau to get on with it, and Pau returned the gesture. He went and kneeled down before the siren, who leaned back from him, flicking his tail more. 

"Let him tie you up, or I'll cut off what you keep moving." 

The siren threw a glare over the first mate's shoulder, something about his expression seeming entirely smug. 

"Go ahead. See if that helps you with your afterlife." 

Tord frowned at the threat, but the siren made no move to fight back more, only flicking is tail more and throwing water towards the banister. Pau worked smoothly, pulling the siren's hands behind his back before binding them tightly at the wrists. The siren hissed lowly, mingling between a whine and a growl. The wet coat Tord had tossed bunched wetly at his waist, and no one made any moves to draw it higher or tighter on the creature.

Once Pau finished tying the ropes, he looked up at Tord. "Should I gag 'em?" 

Tord shook his head, "Not yet. I still have a question or two for him. We're still not done here."

"Right." Pau nodded, standing and stepping back. "I'm going to keep look out. In case he wasn't alone."

Tord grunted in agreement and Pau walked off. After a second of making sure of where Pau was going, Tord looked back at the siren.

"Do you have a reason for drowning people? I've always heard lore of your kind, but the reason why you do this is never clear."

The corner of the siren's mouth rose in a sharp one sided smile.

"Boredom mostly. Hunger the other half of the time."

"Sirens eat humans too?" Tord didn't even flinch at the question, not even all that disturbed. The siren blinked slowly, as if startled by Tord's stupidity. Or, perhaps, he just didn't like being asked questions in the first place.

"I don't. Others do."

"Explain."

The siren lifted his shoulders in a careless shrug. "My specific kind don't like meat or flesh of humans. It tastes sweet, but I prefer bitter things. A bit of blood here and there is like a treat, but too much ruins the meal."

"Then what do you eat," Tord pressed.

The siren licked his lips slowly, and spoke in a listing, teasing tone, "Dying breath~"

"That can't have sustenance."

"I eat fish too, but a human's dying breath is like dessert... It keeps me young," The siren teased, and winked. Tord decided that he hardly cared.

"What other kinds are you talking about? The ones that do eat human meat?" The siren flicked his tail, and his smile seemed a bit wider.

"My brothers. My kin. They have different skills than I do, if you understand."

"Your brothers? Are they different kinds of mermaid? What kinds?"

The siren surprisingly laughed.

"What makes you so curious, Captain? Think anything I tell you will protect you from them?"

"Not at all. I was just worried you might get lonely," Tord answered, voice sharp, and the siren let out a loud bark of a laugh which started like a cough.

"I wouldn't want to run into them, if I were you." He lightly shook his head, as if amused.

Tord rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't you want me to run into them?"

"Oh, you will run into them. That I'm not worried about at all, I promise you."

Tord quirked a brow. "Why?"

The siren only smirked, pulling himself back so that he was braced up on his tail, the fin flicking something colorful and dripping from the tips.

"I usually catch dinner, mostly because I am bored, and they don't like it when I'm bored," The siren spoke slowly, and a wind brushed his hair from his face, "I sink the ship and suck the life from some of you, then leave the rest for my younger brother. He likes blood, and can drink maybe three or four of you before he gets tired and goes back to his coral. By then, I would have spoken with my elder brother and woken him from his sleep. Then he eats your bodies and wrecks your boats so that I can have the rubble. He's really kind to me. They both are. And they are very protective~ I don't think they'll much like the scent of my blood in our waters. It usually does rile them up..."

Tord scowled, taking in the siren's words one step at a time. Exhaustion and near drowning made his mind sluggish, so it took him a moment to realize what the creature was saying. His eyes scanned the siren quickly, noticing a thin blue liquid leaking along his scales and his skin and along the wood of the ship. 

Tord instantly stormed forward and grabbed the coat, yanking it back to reveal a nice bleeding cut along the siren's ribs. It stained Tord's coat and the siren's side, down his tail, to the ends of his fins where the blood pooled. As Tord watched, the siren's tail flicked again, sending more blood splattering through the railing and into the sea.

Furious, Tord whirled back to look at the siren, and the siren surprisingly raised up to meet him, sealing his lips over Tord's in a sudden kiss. Before even the haze had a chance, Tord brought his hand up and slapped the siren away from him. The siren let out a shrill clicking noise that echoed, falling onto his back.

"You think you're so clever, do you?" Tord shouted. "You think your talk of siblings will intimidate me? My crew? Not a chance! This is the Red Deck that you're aboard! No man, army, or creature of the depths has ever threatened my crew before. Don't you dare underestimate me again or you'll be singing through a hole in your neck!"

The siren let out surprisingly shrill giggles, sounding near hysterical.

"Good luck surviving on planks and corpses, Captain, because that's all that will be left once we're through with you!"

Tord growled lowly, throwing his soaked coat back down onto the siren.

"Gag this demon and throw him in the brig right now! I don't care if you throw him in on the planks, just get him out of my sight!" Tord yelled, and instantly many of the crew moved forward to follow instructions.

It took four different men to pick up the siren, who didn't even struggle, just laughed. Even when a gag was placed in his mouth and tied closed, his laughter seemed to echo like the ringing of a bell. Once he was out of sight, Tord found himself staring at the pool of blue liquid, seeing where the siren had flung much of it back into the sea. He knew that sharks were drawn to human blood, but he wasn't sure what would show if mermaid blood was shed.

"Sir," Pau stepped from the rushing crew, up to Tord's side, "All due respect, but are we prepared to take on more than one of these things? Especially different kinds?"

Tord opened his mouth to yell or to boast, but stopped when he caught sight of the clouds looming over head. They had been expecting a storm, and hadn't been worried before. Still weren't, but it wouldn't be a good thing to get attacked at the same time as a storm.

"I was expecting there to be more anyway; most stories state that sirens hunt in packs. We'll only be taking one back with us, and it's going to be the one we have already. Everything else that shows up, we will kill ourselves. Prepare the crew," Tord stated, flicking off his shirt front and walking off.

Pau almost stopped him, almost pointed out that Tord hadn't answered either of his questions, but he had long since understood that it was better to just trust Tord's odd sense of judgment. Sometimes his reckless attitude turned out to be simply because he knew what they could handle it. However, this could easily just be one of those times where they all as a crew, captain included, just went in blinding swinging and somehow managed to win.

As the crew rushed to follow orders, Tord scaled the ships steps, casting sharp, unimpressed scans towards the darkening ocean. His simple white shirt and trousers clung to his skin, sea water still drenching him from head to toe.

"Sail west; we're finished here!"

The crew was quick to ready the boat, angle the sails and tie down things that had come loose during the siren’s attack. Fear made them eager, none of them feeling even slightly comfortable with the bound beast in their ship. 

However, storms are faster than any man. 

The captain’s clothes didn’t even have a chance to dry when the rain started, slow for only a moment before it picked up as the clouds spread overhead. Angry winds cut through the air like slices of a knife, the waves brutal and becoming choppy. If the captain had still been in the water then, it would’ve been impossible to free himself from both the sea and the siren. 

If he had any fatigue from his near death a short while ago, he had to banish it from his mind. This wasn’t over yet. He didn’t have time to fantasize about his own demise.

Tord barked orders for someone to bring him his sword and gun, took the wheel, and kept his eyes on the enraged sea. He wasn’t able to see much of anything, the darkening sky and savage rain making even the slightest distance impossible to tell. Even so, the captain could see the blue stain that was the siren’s blood at the side of the boat, being splattered by rain and thinned, running off the wood and into the sea. Even if the siren’s talk of kin was an empty threat, just the sight alone reminded Tord that it would only take a simple storm to capsize a ship. Any other ship but his.

One of his sailors shouted about something in the water. Something bright. Tord wiped rain water from his eyes and snarled for them to keep their damned focus on keeping their supplies on the boat and the sails from being torn with the wind. It was hard to tell if the crew was more intimidated by the situation, the storm, or by their captain- but then Tord repeated himself, sharper, louder over the gusting wind, and his sailors seemed to recall that the storm and sea weren’t on their sides, but their captain still was. At least for now.

Pau was the one to give Tord his weapons, slipping them in the belts at Tord’s waist. The captain offered only a humored sneer as thanks, told him to get someone near the bow to make sure nothing strikes them from the front unexpectedly, and set his feet in firmly before bracing his hands on the wheel, attempting to steady the swaying vessel. 

Out of the corner of his eye, the captain spotted something, but the growing waves struck the boat and it was gone. He couldn’t even remember what it was, or if he had even seen anything at all. A heavy crash hit the ship, causing even the captain to stumble. Tord hauled himself upright on the wheel, watching foaming, cold water pour across the deck from even larger waves, knocking his men underfoot. Just as Tord was about to yell at some of them to stop fooling around, he saw it again.

A light, something bright and unnatural. A green Tord had only seen in the night sky in the North, those bright lights in waves in the sky, now in the sea. It shone from the side, like a torch, making the wrathful dark waves glow a nightly green as they rose. When that wave struck the boat, the glow vanished and Tord’s crew was once again pelted with icy weighted water. The water reached even the helm and washed over Tord’s boots. 

It caused the ship to dip violently from the pressure, and it jostled everyone aboard once it righted in it’s sway. Then the glow was back. On the other side of the boat this time, flooding the waves with color so bright it reflected off eyes and leather. When the water struck this time, Tord saw something else in the gleam- a figure twirl and disappear under. And the light beamed in the next wave, and the next, traveling like lightning, rolling across the water and foam.

Tord whipped his stare away, towards the deck and hull, snapping out of the awe that the impossible light had caused. And he saw he was not the only one who had been enthralled. His crew struggled with ropes and canons and water, all blinking in a sort of bewildered daze at the light. They were distracted just long enough that, when the next wave struck them, none of them braced themselves, and they lost their holds and were blinded and choked by sea water. 

Already, Tord had lost three crew members by the time he realized what was happening. A few sailors strayed too close to the railings, absorbed in the light, needing to see it fill their eyes, and, when the waves beat the ship, those men screamed as they were washed off the boat, into the savage, blood thirsty sea where they were lost to the dark icy water or dragged under the hull of the ship itself. 

The captain cursed, jerking the wheel enough to brace for the next striking wave.

“Sluggards, don’t look at it! Keep your wits about you, or you’ll all end up drowned at the hands of a blasted doxy-!” 

There were messy, uncoordinated calls from the hands, a good few of them still staring dumbly at the gleaming green that seeped in the water and foam. The glow circled the boat, filled the crashing waves and shone through the rain and wind as if nothing could block it. Tord couldn’t look directly at it without losing himself in the glow, so he tried to focus on the waves.

A huge wave, large enough to carry a shark, rose and over-flowed the deck, and the green light was inside it. A few sailors managed to grab ropes or railings in time, others were thrown back and knocked like dolls against the floors. The green light bloomed inside the impaling water, the gleam flooding upon the ship in every drop. Beyond the light, inside it, Tord saw two of his crew get snatched. If he hadn’t been staring, slightly blinded by rain and sea water and sweat, then Tord would’ve assumed they had just been washed off deck by the water. But he had seen, and he knew that they had been dragged. The green light, whatever it was, had grabbed them and ripped them from the ship, into the last of the wave and into the enraged sea.

To his remaining, scrambling sailors, most who didn’t even understand what was happening, the captain screamed, “It’s a bloody siren! Get in the lines! Brace yourselves!”

But the warning didn’t breach the now howling wind, or rise over the crash of the next bombardment of waves. Any who shouted back at him were drowned by water, or breathless from being thrown about by the storm. The captain saw the glow flood another wave, making it just a wall of green as it covered the deck. Just as it shattered across the bow, knocking the captain square against the wheel in a way that bruised his ribs, Tord heard a muffled gunshot, then another.

Through the green, in the ratlines above the bow, Pau was tangled in the ropes, drenched in sea water and aiming a pistol at the green, firing blindly. Two violent waves struck the boat before the green wave stopped, still battering and sweeping the lot of them off their feet and against the rails. The green flooded the front of the boat like a bomb of color- and stayed on the bow. In the dark of the storm, the unholy green stayed on the ship once the foam and water cascaded off into the sea. 

Through the assaulting waves, and foam and rain, the green condensed- and became a form. It looked even less human than the last siren. It had dull slate skin, and a long, angular build, the green glow emanated from it, from countless spots along it’s arms and chest and face. The top half looked like a sick version of a human, too sharp and jaunting, but the bottom half was a dark fish like tail covered in sharp looking barbs, tipped in glowing green. It didn’t look much like the last one at all. 

Pau didn’t shoot it, he seemed enthralled by it all over again, perhaps by the pure color or perhaps by the body of the creature, as was Tord and any other of the crew that looked up to see it. 

Even from the helm, Tord could see it had a large, distended jaw and milky, glowing green eyes that matched the green splattered over him. As they stared at it, and the waves crashed, the new siren opened it’s large mouth. And it didn’t sing. It shrieked.

The odd glowing green mermaid let out a high pitched, sharp scream that was probably supposed to be a chirp. It was enraged. The scream pierced into all their ears like breaking glass, causing all the crew to jolt in pain and surprise. Waves never lessened, continuing to pound the ship and knock the hands and throw those who tried to cover their ears into the sea. Tord wrestled with the wheel, struggling to keep his focus. 

Pau raised his gun again, pointing it at the screaming thing. 

Suddenly, the ship stopped.

The boat jolted hard to a halt from the front. It threw Tord into the wheel and his crew across the floor into barrels and stairs. Pau lost his grip on the ratlines and fell to the bow’s floor. It felt like the anchor had been dropped. The siren’s shriek stilted off into a trill, like a purr, then it silenced under the thundering skies, crashing waves, and wind.

Waves continued around them, slapping the ship and splattering the crew, but the ship was at a complete stop. Tord wheezed and gasped as he struggled to regain his footing, head whipping around to find the source of what hindered them. No rocks, no land. They had just come from this direction, there should be no sandbars or coral or anything.

It was only when his crew started screaming did Tord finally see it. Rising like the waves around them, long dark tendrils were curling across the hull of the ship, up over the bow. They were thick and huge, curling over the railings like large serpents. Wood cracked. They got larger and larger, and Tord noticed more of them. They slowly rose from the sea and crushed the rails as they wrapped around the body of the ship. Tord saw them slipping up the stern behind and beside him, looking like the sea itself was reaching for them all. And Tord felt sick.

Oh God. Oh dear merciful God. It’s the-

“KRAKEN!”

One of the crew wailed in a raw voice of terror, and the rest of the hands were screaming then, going for swords and guns that had been knocked from them by waves long ago. 

Tord bit back his own fear, grabbing out his sword, and, in one fluid motion, he sank it deep into the nearest tentacle trying to overrun his ship. It gushed an odd thin blue blood, like the first siren, and writhed. A deep, booming noise rocked the ship, a noise like a whale, just a bit sharper. The tentacle’s curled tighter about the ship, angry, making the entire large boat bob dangerously, as more waves pelted them. The injured tentacle whipped out wildly, bleeding over the wood, and Tord had to jump back. It was easy to see that the tendrils themselves were heavy and strong enough to break bones just with a quick jerk. 

Tord leaped over it, onto the stairs leading down to the deck. His mind was racing, but he needed to move. His remaining crew, half drowned and half crazed, were all fighting with the impending monster, stabbing and stomping at the tentacles. A few of the crew got hit by the Kraken’s snaking limbs, crushing legs and chests just by wrapping about them like toys. Some were grabbed and yanked into the sea, likely to be a snack. 

Tord resorted to the ratlines to avoid the tentacles, jumping up onto the ones leading to the main crows-nest from the stairwell. His body protested, but he stood a slightly better chance in the ropes than he did on the deck. Screaming, wind, and large waves snapped at those who avoided the Kraken. 

Tord swung down, managing to kick one of his crew members out of the way of a tendril making for his leg, but the captain didn’t think to wait with them. He needed to get to-

“Captain-!” Pau’s voice rang out, and Tord looked to see his first mate pinned under the green siren. The green glowing siren loomed over Pau, it’s large jaw unhinged with countless long needle thin teeth buried into Pau’s arm as Pau tried to block his face with his now bleeding limb. From where Tord was in the ratlines, he could see that Pau’s face was splattered in red, and his eyes were full of the green glow from the siren. His sanity barely hanging on.

Tord shouted for him, leaping down from the ratlines, and onto the stairs leading to the bow. His sword was drawn, and he was reaching for his pistol when a tentacle whipped across the stairs and clipped his leg. Water from another wave and his injured leg had him tumbling at the top of the stairs. His sword clattered in front of Pau and the second siren. 

The green siren looked up with green milky eyes, long dark red hair stuck down it’s face and back like the first siren. Behind the blood and the odd, large jaw, Tord swore the damned thing smiled at him.

Pau shouted back to his captain, voice hoarse, and face already pale as he struggled with the siren atop him, “Get the brother!”

From where Tord collapsed, he could see that it wasn’t just the siren’s jagged teeth digging into Pau. The siren also had very thin, angled hands edged in barbs like its tail. One of them was digging into Pau’s stomach, bloody and deep. Gutted. He wouldn’t survive.

Tord bit his injured lip, hoping Pau could see his regret through the haze of death and siren spell, and whirled on the stairs.

Water from more waves helped Tord slide down the last stairs, to his feet at the bottom. He only had his knife now, but he didn’t hesitate. With a limp and a stagger, Tord shoved himself up through waves and wind and cracking wood. A tentacle, fast as an angry snake and heavy as a tree trunk, flicked and curled across the deck in front of him, and Tord buried his knife deep into the muscle and sliced down. When the beast yanked back in pain, Tord flung himself across the floor, to the hatch doors leading deeper inside the ship.

He got them open, and was struck from behind by the injured appendage of the Kraken, which knocked him directly down the stairs. Tord landed at the bottom, tasting blood and bruised. His back hurt like hell, but it was nothing compared to his leg. Water crashed down after him, making him sputter as he tried to push himself up. 

The captain was approached by one of the crew that was hiding below deck, the sailor offering him a shaking hand, but Tord slapped it away. He noted that maybe five or six were still alive and just blinking at him.

“What the hell are you doing, hiding down here like lily-livered stowaways!? Load those cannons if you’re going to be down here- and die fighting like the rest of us!” Tord snarled wrathfully, and even if he was the cause of this, his crew was loyal.

“Aye, Captain!” They raced around, going for cannons, for boxes containing the cannonballs. Tord didn’t have a belief in his mind that the cannons would do much, but it was better than just sitting around.

The ship rocked and creaked viciously, but the inside was dry and Tord forced himself to stagger across the floor, pushing off of support beams and boxes to speed his inured gait. None of his crew dared to help him. Just as Tord stumbled to the wooden door leading to the brig, he heard more screaming from his remaining crew and the loud cracking of wood. The damned Kraken was just going to break in through the deck.

Tord shoved the door open, gasping shallowly in pain and hobbled. He was drenched in water, his lips were bleeding, and he had Kraken blood soaking him from his right arm down to his knife. 

Inside the room was a small cell with iron bars, Patty standing posed in front of it with his pistol drawn and pointed to the cell. Patty looked pale and shaken, but his expression was hard, even with a very clear bleeding claw mark stretching down his cheek. He looked up to his captain, and had the decency to not change his expression- like he knew what was going on, like he had expected it to. Behind the cell bars, the first siren soaked happy as a clam in a beer barrel full of salt water, chained to the wall. His mouth was gagged with a cloth swath, propped up in the barrel from his waist, somewhat sitting on the lip of it like his entire body couldn’t fit.

Tord took in his dark blue scaled hips, and pelvic fins, and blue tint to his skin and his lack of eyes, and found himself a bit bitter that he found this one much more appealing that the other two outside his ship.

“Captain.” Patty greeted in a rough, cool voice. Behind Tord, his crew was still screaming.

“I have made a mistake,” Tord nearly snarled, shoving himself inside the room and slamming the door shut behind him. Patty grunted in agreement, but didn’t say anything further. The thing in the barrel let out that chirping bell like laughter behind the gag. Tord staggered over, pointing his bloody knife at the siren and said, “I don’t know why you’re laughing, fish. I’ll kill you for what your kin have done to my crew!”

Tord ordered Patty to open the cell door, which he did slowly, never taking his eyes off the siren in the cage. Just as he did, there was a shaking crash the shuddered the entire boat, and it tilted, angling the room they were in slight in the air. There was a sound of water gushing into the room outside the door. Tord just grabbed hold of the bars, holding himself still, even as water splashed out of the barrel and onto the floor in front of him and the siren watched him with laughing, blood thirsty eyes.

Patty let the angled floor slide him across the room, to the door, which he instantly set about wedging tight with boxes and loose clothes. As he worked, Patty casually asked, “So, we’re to die, Captain?”

“Looks that way. Sorry, Pat,” Tord said dully, hauling himself up into the cell. Patty made a scoffing noise.

“We had a good time, Captain. No apologies necessary.”

These were the last words Patty spoke, because, in the next second, the ship rocked and convulsed. His barricade did nothing much, water rushing in spurts under the door and the corners, and the door creaked weakly. Patty was just raising his pistol when the door cracked in half, water spurting in from the split center. It caved open. A long tentacle struck in with the burst water, filling the front of the room. It snatched Patty about his waist and dragged him, faster than the water, across the floor, into the flood. His gun didn’t fire once.

After a second, Tord heard a distinct crunching noise, and he didn’t know if he’d prefer it to be the sound of Patty being eaten by the Kraken or it be the sound of the Kraken breaking open his beloved Red Deck like an oyster’s shell. It immediately became clear that it was the first, because the latter happened a moment later and Tord could tell. The entire room, the entire ship jolted, the sound of cracking wood rippling the water and making everything feel like it was shattering to bits. Tord didn’t even have to look to know that the entire front of the room was torn off, he could tell by how fast the water was flooding in. Tord dug his teeth so sharply into his lip that blood ran down his chin. 

Water continued to fill the room, blooming up from the doorway towards the cell, reaching the bars and over Tord’s feet in a matter of moments. Tord was almost standing on the bars to the cell now because of how tilted the room was, and he looked up to see that siren. It was staring down at him, a devil’s grin behind the gag, and it’s long brown hair falling passed it’s face. In that moment, Tord was sure that it was the most beautiful and most horrible thing in the world. Tord barred his teeth to it, drew his pistol and pointed it directly at the thing’s forehead. 

He pulled the trigger. 

It didn’t fire. 

The gunpowder must’ve gotten wet. 

The siren’s trilling laughter came back full force, shaking it’s shoulders. And Tord was sure it winked at him. Then it slipped forward, out of the barrel, splashing into the ocean water, and Tord watched the dark blue tail flick forward passed the open cell door. Free. Tord cursed, glaring down at where it had gone, into the murky black. The water was now up to his thighs. He shoved away his knife and dropped his useless gun, he needed his hands free. He tried to think, he thought to pray. But then he saw something. 

In the deep black that was the open ocean, the captain of the Red Deck saw the sirens. The green one was glowing bright enough to reveal them in the dark, lighting the water in a wide violent green. The blue one, arms and mouth still bound, swam up to the green siren swiftly. And the green siren seemed to do circles around the blue one, happy, and it cut the ropes around it’s wrists with sharp teeth. The gag was instantly removed, and Tord watched with wide eyes as the glowing green one that had eaten his first mate practically curled to the blue one’s chest, wrapping it’s tail around his. It nuzzled it’s angled, savage features against the blue one’s face. They were hugging. Faintly, Tord heard that trilling, listing noise. Laughing.

The water was up to Tord’s chest. He almost wished that he was already dead. Then he really wished he was when he saw it- the Kraken.

The blue siren and the green one parted from their embrace, and the blue one excitedly swam down to it. The green siren wasn’t glowing bright enough to illuminate even half of the Kraken, so the thing just appeared to fill from the deepest pits of the sea. The green glow showed what Tord assumed to be the upper half of the larger siren, which had the basic appearance of humans. Barely. A large human like body, just as big as Tord’s entire ship if not bigger, touched not in scales but in large splotches of darker skin, almost looking like injuries. It seemed to have arms, human ones, but they were barbed at the shoulders and touched with dark rubber like patches that flowed like it’s tentacles. 

The other two sirens swam to it’s face in the dark, lighting up a human like face. It had huge round eyes, that were a gleaming, glassy green that shone out even in the dim distant glow of the green siren. Long thick tentacles flowed about it, from below in the dark, and from it’s loose hair. It’s human like lips split open to reveal jagged teeth that were like swords, it smiled. It’s mouth was like the bottom of the sea- pitch black and all consuming. And yet, the blue siren, so tiny compared to the Kraken, flitted to it’s face, nuzzled it’s cheeks and fluttered about the Kraken’s human like hand that was a glacier with long talon black clawed nails. Between fingers like a lock of hair. It could’ve ripped Tord’s ship apart with just a slap of it’s hand.

There was no way of telling how huge it was.

Just a peek at it made Tord feel that, if he were to get out of this alive, he would never go into the ocean ever again.

The water was up to his chin, and he was struggling to keep his head above water all while not being able to take his eyes off the sirens practically playing in the open sea under his bobbing feet. The captain could faintly hear clicks, trills, rolls among the splashing waves. The sirens were talking. Everything else was just sea splashing against the closing in walls, the gasp of Tord trying to breathe.

When Tord glanced down again, he felt an icy cold shock when he saw that all three sirens were staring at him. Tord cursed fluently, and watched as a tentacle from the depths slipped and curled around the door of the cell, and suddenly the entire room was being dragged deeper. Tord tried to brace himself up in the high corner in the room, but he tasted sea water. Then the room stopped moving. And Tord could only see the Kraken’s large eyes on him, expressionless, disturbingly blank above parted lips to show pitch black teeth. 

But it was the first siren, the blue one that swam easily, almost elegantly through the water, into the cell. The siren surfaced a foot away with arrogant abyss eyes, and beckoned Tord to come closer with a curl of a sharp clawed finger.

“Hello, little captain~” The blue siren hummed, and that deep voice almost made Tord sag.

Tord started to snarl at him, but then he noticed the glow under him, and he looked down in time to see the green siren grin with needle thin teeth and a separated jaw, and wrap it’s barbed hands around his ankles. Then it yanked him under. Tord kicked and struggled, but the glowing siren easily dragged him through the water, from the cell, and into the open sea. Things were muffled, but Tord could hear the listing, clicking noises that he knew to be the sirens’ laughter. 

The captain reached into his belts, yanking his knife free and moving to stab it down directly in the green siren’s skull, but he was stopped. A tentacle of black came from the sea and curled around his entire arm, crushing it and yanking it back like a twitch. His arm broke, it was out of socket and still trapped behind him. 

Tord screamed, his air rushing in bubbles from his throat. Before it all escaped, the blue siren was in front of his face, floating free in the ocean, and its shark tooth smirk sealed to Tord’s gaping mouth. Hands slicked with scales and sharp seized Tord’s head, holding him fast. Its’ icy cold flat tongue slipped into Tord’s mouth, and the siren inhaled. Tord’s free, uninjured arm clutched at the siren’s shoulder, and he struggled to push back, but he was trapped by his legs and arm and face. Staring into those narrowed pure black eyes, hearing only bubbles and the laughter of the beasts he had hunted down, Tord drowned. The blue siren ate his dying breath.

**Author's Note:**

> i made an ew side blog where all my writing is also gonna be- feel free to hmu
> 
> https://ewdenimjeans.tumblr.com/


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